Bowling ball cleaning machine



April 23, 1963 c. KNOTT 3,086,233

BOWLING BALL CLEANING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1960 5.Sheets-Sheet 1Fig.5.

INVENTOR.

CARL K N07 7' BY WSM 14 TTORN Y April 23, 1963 c. KNOTT BOWLING BALLCLEANING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 8. 1960 INVENTOR CA RLKN07'7' MI/x My ,4 fro/2N5) April 23, 1963 c. KNOTT 3,086,233

BOWLING BALL CLEANING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR. CA RL K/vofl' BY M w ATTORNEY A ril 23, 1963 Filed Sefi. s,1960 C. KNOTT BOWLING BALL CLEANING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig.5.

IN VEN TOR. CARL KNOTT A T TORNE) April 23, 1963 c. KNOTT BOWLING BALLCLEANING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 8, 1960 T m w MW s N M ILM A c Y B H- H1 Zl/l I 4 O a W W 2 m .IIIQ) F300 0 3 .l\ 7 4 6 l 2 12 wi=7. 7 B 4 7 W m m in l a M 5 T; 6 8

United rates Patent Gfiice 3,985,233 Patented Apr. 23, 19 63 amazesBOWLING BALL CLEANING MACHINE Carl Knott, Cornwells Heights, Pa.,assignor to Melvin Blatt, Yardley, Pa. Filed Sept. 8, 1960, Ser. No.54,607 10 Claims. (Cl. 15-41) This invention relates to machines forcleaning and polishing bowling balls and is directed particularly toconstructions whereby a plurality of bowling balls may pass one afteranother through the machine.

Various types of bowling ball'cleaners are known but they are generallydesigned to clean and polish one ball at a time. Considerable time isrequired to complete both operations with the result that the output ofthe machines is limited. On the other hand, those constructions whichhave been capable of receiving one ball after another for cleaning thesame have generally been complicated and expensive and have not alwaysbeen satisfactory in operation.

In accordance with the present invention, a new type of bowling ballcleaning machine is provided which is relatively simple in constructionand effective in operation while permitting bowling balls to be suppliedand removed from the machine one after another.

Accordingly, the principal object of the present invention is to reducethe cost and simplify the construction of machines for cleaning bowlingballs.

Another object of the invention is to provide bowling ball cleaningmachines wherein a plurality of bowling balls may be passed through themachine and may be cleaned and polished one after another.

A specific object of the invention is to provide a machine wherein abowling ball is first subjected to a cleaning operation and thensubjected to a polishing operation and one ball can be polished while asecond ball is being cleaned whereby the rapidity of discharge of ballsfrom the machine may be increased.

These and other objects and features of the present invention willappear from the following description thereof wherein reference is madeto the figures of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustrating a typical form of bowling ballcleaning machine embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the construction of FIG. 1 with the coverthereof removed;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation showing the mechanism of the bowling ballcleaner of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the construction shown in FIG. 2 as seen fromthe left end;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the construction of FIG. 2 as seen from theright end;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a detail of the construction of FIG.3 taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a perspective illustrating the elements of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view showing a portion of the cam and controlmechanism;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 9--9 of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a wiring diagram showing one form of circuitry which may beused in the construction of the present invention.

in that form of the invention chosen for purposes of illustration, thebowling ball cleaning machine has an outer cover 2 having an end wall 4with an opening 6 therein through which bowling balls 8 to be cleanedare movable along inclined supply tracks 10. As shown, the tracks 10 areof such length that they may receive any desired number of balls to becleaned for movement into the machine one after another. The oppositeend wall 12 of the machine has a discharge opening 14 therein throughwhich cleaned and polished balls may be discharged onto inclineddischarge tracks 16 which may hold any desired number of cleaned andpolished balls.

Within the machines there is a ball cleaning brush 18 which ispreferably formed of stiff wire bristles or other cleaning material. Thebrush may be of any suitable shape such as cylindrical, or otherwise,but as illustrated is of a tapered or generally concave conical formwith the larger end of the brush positioned adjacent the end wall 4 ofthe cover for the machine. A polishing brush 20 similar to the brush 18is formed with soft polishing bristles or other polishing material and,as shown, is also of a tapered form and arranged with the larger endthereof adjacent the opposite end wall 12 of the machine. The brushes 18and 2.0 are coaxially positioned and preferably are mounted on the sameshaft 22 which is driven at a suitable speed by a motor 24 through abelt 26.

In a typical case, the brushes 18 and 20 may be rotated at about 1500*to 1800 rpm. but the balls engaging the brushes are retarded andprevented from rotating at such high speed by suitable retarding means.As shown, the retarding means consist of the rubber or other softsleeves 28 which are carried by the hollow shaft 39. A shaft 32 extendsthrough the hollow shaft 3% and is driven by the pulley 34 through belt36 and pulley 38. The latter pulley is connected to large pulley 40which is driven by belt 42 from the pulley 44 secured to the brushdriving shaft 22. An over-running clutch or other speed limiting device45 is interposed between the hollow shaft 30 and driven shaft 32 tolimit the speed of rotation of the hollow shaft 32 and sleeves 28whereby the sleeves tend to retard the rotation of the balls beingpolished. For this purpose, a Formsprag device such as that of UnitedStates Patent No. 2,561,600 may be used.

The balls being cleaned and polished rest upon the brushes I8 and 20 andupon the sleeves 28 carried by hollow shaft 30. The balls are rotated byengagement with the brushes but they are retarded in such rotation bythe speed limiting means. Therefore, the brushes rotate more rapidlythan the balls and vigorously brush the balls so as to clean and polishthem effectively. Further, in order to tilt or orient the balls withrespect to the brushes so as to avoid cleaning and polishing of a singlezone of the ball, tilting members 46 are carried by a shaft 48 and arerotated to engage and lift the balls from time to time. The members 46are positioned nearer the center of the machine than the enlarged endsof the brushes and lift each ball from the adjacent retarding sleeve 28so that it will be rotated by the brush which it engages. When taperedbrushes are used as shown, the lifting means serve to tilt the ballstoward the larger ends of the brushes. The balls are thus periodicallydisplaced with respect to the brushes so that they will be twisted orturned as they rotate to bring different Zones of the ball into cleaningand polishing engagement with the brushes. In this Way, the entiresurface of each ball is subjected to effective cleaning and polishingaction.

The shaft 48 which serves to rotate the tilting members 46 is driven bythe gear 47 which meshes with a pinion 49 secured to the driven shaft32. In order to distribute the load applied to the drive means by theaction of the ball lifting member 46, that member associated with thecleaning brush 18 is preferably located removed from the lifting memberassociated with the polishing brush 20. Thus, when one ball is beingcleaned by brush 18 and another is being polished by brush 26, one ballis lifted and caused to orient its positions and then is lowered ontoits sleeves 28 to continue with its cleaning or polishing of a differentzone of the ball as the other ball is being lifted and oriented. Thisalternate operation of the lifting members distributes the load on thedriving means and continues until the entire surface of each ball hasbeen effectively engaged by the brushes.

The balls to be cleaned and polished move through the machine under theaction of gravity and under the control of the control arms 50 of acontrol device. .T here preferably are four of the control arms 50 whichradiate from a shaft 52. The lower end of shaft 52 has a cloverleaf 54-secured thereto and provided with four notches 56 engageable by a stopmember 58 carried by a rock shaft 60.

When the stop member 58 engages one of the notches 56, the shaft 52 isheld against rotation and the control arms t} remain stationary so as topositively prevent displacement of the balls. Thus, the control arm 50which extends across the lower end of the supply track it) withholds theballs on the supply track from the cleaning brush 18 while allowing aball engaging the brush to rotate and orient freely as it is beingcleaned. The control arm 59 which projects rearwardly toward the spacebetween the brushes prevents the balls from being displaced laterallyand the control arm 50 which extends across the upper end of thedischarge track :16 prevents a ball in engagement with the polishingbrush 20 from being prematurely discharged onto discharge tracks 16.

When the rock shaft 60 is oscillated, the stop member 53 is withdrawnfrom the notch 56 in the cloverleaf 54- and the shaft 52 is free torotate. At the same time a transfer member 62 connected to the rockshaft 60 by an arm 59 and a discharge member 64 connected to the rockshaft 60 by an arm 66- are raised. The transfer member 62 is positionedbelow the ball that is in engagement with the cleaning brush 18 and isinclined laterally so that when it is raised by the rock shaft 60, theball Will be raised off the brush 18 and retarding sleeves 2S and willbe caused to roll sideways from the cleaning brush 18 to the polishingbrush 29. At the same time, the discharge member 64 which is positionedbelow the ball that is in engagement with the polishing brush 20 israised. The upper end of the discharge member is inclined forwardly sothat when it is raised by operation of the rock shaft 60, it will liftthe ball from the polishing brush 20 and retarding sleeves 28 and directit onto the upper end of the discharge tracks 16 for delivery from themachine.

Since the balls are actually advanced by gravity as they roll off theend of the supply tracks 18 and roll off the raised and inclinedsurfaces of the transfer and discharge members, the balls engage thearms 50 and serve to rotate the arms and the shaft 52 when the rockshaft is oscillated. However, over-run of the arms is prevented byproviding pins 68 on the cloverleaf 54 which are positioned to beengaged by the portion 70 of the stop member 58 when the stop member iswithdrawn from a notch 56 by the cloverleaf to the dotted line positionof FIG. 6. The arms 59 are therefore limited to rotation through anangle of 90 each time the rock shaft 60 is oscillated.

The rock shaft 60 is oscillated by the tilting of a slotted T headmember *72 secured to the end of the rock shaft. A slide member 74 ispositioned in the bore 76 in the T head member 72 and is arranged to beprojected periodically to the dotted line position of FIG. 8 so that itwill be engaged by a cam member 78 rotatable with the shaft 48 each timethe rock shaft is to be o cillated. For this purpose, the slide 74 isprovided with a pin 80 which projects through a slot 32 in the T headmember 72 and is received in the slot 84 in the end of an actuatinglever 86. When the actuating lever 36 is in its retracted full lineposition of FIG. 8, the slide 74 is withdrawn from engagement with thecam 78. However, when the actuating lever is moved to the dotted lineposition of FIG. 8, the slide 74 is projected into the low portion ofthe cam '78 and pin is centered with respect to the axis of the rockshaft 60. The cam 78 in rotating, therefore, engages the projecting endof the slide member 74 and lifts said end upward causing the rock shaftto rotate in a counter-clockwise direction as seen in FIG. 8 whereby thetransfer and discharge members secured to the rock shaft are raised.

Thereafter, when the high part of cam 78 moves beyond the projecting endof the slide 74 the rock shaft will rotate in a counter-clockwisedirection due to the weight of the transfer and lifting members as theyreturn to their lowered positions by gravity. The actuating lever 86will then return to the full line position of FIG. 8 retracting theslide 74 so that the rock shaft will not again be oscillated until theactuating lever 36 is again operated. The slide 74 thus functions as anintermittently operating cam follower under the control of the actuatinglever 86.

The actuating lever 86 is normally urged to its retracted full lineposition of FIG. 8 by a spring 88 so that the slide 74 is normallyretracted from cam 78. However, the actuating lever is movable to thedotted line position to project the slide 74 by operation of a solenoid90. The solenoid 9b is energized upon starting an operation by theclosing of a micro switch 92 under the control of a timing meansincluding a cam member 94 having a high point 96 engagcable with theswitch actuator 98 of the micro switch 92. The timing means furtherincludes a cam member 160 having a high point 102 for closing microswitch 104 which serves to complete the circuit through solenoid duringcontinuing operation of the machine. The cam members 94 and are advancedstep by step in 1a counter-clockwise direction as seen in FIG. 3 bymeans of a pawl 106 engageable with the tee h on wheel 198 which servesto rotate the cam members. The pawl 1% is carried by an arm 110 that isengageable by pin 112 rotatable with shaft 48 associated with the ballorienting means 46 and the cam 78 which actuates the rock shaft 60 andthe ball transfer and discharge means. Each rotation of the shaft 48serves to advance the cams 94 and of the timing means one step so thatthe mechanism serves to initiate the ball cleaning operation and tocause it to continue until each ball has been oriented ten or twelvetimes or as often as desired for assuring effective cleaning andpolishing of the balls and transfer and discharge thereof.

The circuit including the micro switch 92 also includes a micro switch1-14 which is controlled by a fecler element 116 positioned to beengaged by a ball being cleaned or polished. Thus, the feelcr element116 is arranged as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 so that it extends acrossthe machine above the balls and will be held in a raised circuitbreaking position as long as there is a ball in engagement with eitherthe cleaning crush 18 or the polishing brush 2t When there is no ball inthe machine, the feeler element 116 will fall to close the circuitincluding micro switches 92 and 114.

The circuit including the micro switch 92 and feeler controlled switch114 serves to assure initial movement of tie rock shaft 6%) when a ballfirst enters the machine but this circuit is thereafter held open by theoperation of fecler 116 and the opening of switch 114. Accordingly, theenergizing of solenoid 98 and the operation of the rock shaft 60 whenthere is a ball in the machine is controlled by the micro switch 1G4under the action of the cam member 10% The operation of the machine maybe initiated by any suitable means such as a push button, coincontrolled means or the like. As shown, a coin controlled meansindicated at 118 may be used. Moreover, since the machine is designed toreceive one ball after another, the coin controlled means, if employed,may be of the add and subtract type so that a number of coins may beinserted to cause the machine to continue to operate through acorresponding number of cycles. When using an add and subtract coincontrolled means of the type known as the Guardian IRR.A.S., it ispossible to use a rotatable contact element 120' designed to be advancedone step at a time by a solenoid 122 each time a coin 124 is insertedinto the machine to close the contact 126. 'The machine also is providedwith an additional feeler element 128 positioned above the upper end ofthe discharge tracks 16 so as to be engaged and operated each time aball is discharged from the machine. Feeler element 128 serves toactuate a micro switch 130 which is connected in series with a solenoid132 to rotate the element 120 one step backward each time a ball isdischarged. The micro switch 130 therefore serves to limit the number ofcycles of operation to be performed by the machine to that correpsondingto the number of coins inserted into the machine.

In using that form of the invention shown and described above, thebowling balls 8 to be cleaned are placed upon the supply tracks 10 alongwhich they roll through the opening 6 in the end wall 4 of the machineuntil the foremost ball engages the control arm 50 of the control devicewhich extends across the end of the supply track 19 adjacent thecleaning brush 18.

When a ball is to be cleaned, the coin controlled device 118 or othermeans is actuated to initiate the operation. Thus, as shown in FIG. 10,the insertion of a coin 124 into the coin controlled device .118 servesto close the contact 126 whereby a circuit is completed from thepositive side of the power supply 134 through the line 136 and switch126 to the solenoid 122 and thence back to the negative side of thepower supply through the line 138. The energizing of solenoid 122 servesto rotate the contact element 120 one step in a counter-clockwisedirection as shown in FIG. 10. When a circuit is completed through therotatable contact member 120, current flows from the power supply 134and line 136 through the contact member 120 to the line 140 and thenceto relay 142 and back to the negative side of the power supply 134. Therelay 142 when energized serves to close the motor control switch 144 tocause the motor 24 to be driven. The bnushes 18 and 20 are thus rotatedand when they have attained the desired speed for cleaning and polishingthe balls, the high point 96 of the cam member 94 will engage the switchactuator 98 of the micro switch 92. At this time, since there is no ballin the machine, the feeler 116 will be lowered and switch 114 will beclosed. Accordingly, current will flow from the positive side of powersupply 134 through line 136 and switches 92 and 114 to solenoid 90 andback through line .138 to the negative side of the power source.Therefore, solenoid 9t) will be energized to operate the actuating lever86 and cause the rock shaft 60 to be tilted.

When the rock shaft tilts, the transfer member 62 and the dischargemember 64 will be raised but this will be an idle operation since thereare no balls in the machine. However, the movement of the rock shaftalso serves to withdraw the stop member 58 from the notch 56 incloverleaf 54 so that the shaft 52 and control arms 50 are released forrotation. Therefore, the foremost ball on the supply tracks 10 will rollforward into engagement with the cleaning brush 18 and the retardingsleeve 28. At the same time, the feeler 116 will be raised to openswitch 114 with the result that the subsequent operation of the rockshaft 60 will be controlled by the cam member 100 and micro switch 104through which current flows to solenoid 90 each time the cam member 100makes a complete rotation.

As indicated above, the ball being cleaned is rotated by the cleaningbrush but is retarded in its rotation by the retarding sleeves 23 andthe speed limiting device 46. At the same time, the tilting members 46will serve to lift and orient the ball being cleaned so as to assureeffective cleaning of the entire surface of the ball.

After a predetermined number of such lifting and orienting movements ofthe ball being cleaned, the high point 102 on cam member 100 will engagethe micro switch 104. Solenoid will then again be actuated to move theactuating lever 86 to its dotted line position permitting the controlarms 50 and shaft 52 to rotate through a further angle of 90. Duringsuch rotation, the transfer member 62 is lifted beneath the ballengaging the cleaning brush 18 and serves to shift the ball transverselyof the machine into engagement with the polishing brush 20. At the sametime, the next ball will be moved forward by a control arm 50 intoengage ment with the cleaning brush 18. The machine will then continueto operate so as to polish the first ball which is now in engagementwith the polishing brush 20 and at the same time to clean the next ballwhich is then in engagement with the cleaning brush 18. Upon conclusionof this cycle of operation, the solenoid 90 is again energized as thehigh point 102 of cam again engages micro switch 104. The actuatinglever 86 then moves to cause the rock shaft 60 to oscillate whereby thedischarge member 64 will raise the ball from engagement with thepolishing brush 20 onto the upper end of the discharge tracks 16 so thatit will roll out of the machine through the discharge opening 14 in theend wall 12.v At the same time, the ball which was in engagement withthe cleaning brush will be transferred to the polishing brush 2.0 andanother ball will be advanced into engagement with the cleaning brush18.

Each time a cleaned and polished ball is discharged from the machineupon operation of the discharge member 64, it engages the feeler 128 toclose micro switch 130 and energize solenoid 13 2. The latter solenoidserves to rotate the rotatable element of the coin operated device in aclockwise direction and when the number of balls discharged equals thenumber of coins inserted in the machine, the clockwise rotation ofelement 120 will serve to break the circuit through motor control relay142 so that the motor control switch 144 will open and the motor will bestopped concluding the operation.

It will be apparent that each time a coin is inserted in the device 118to close switch 126, the rotatable element 120 will be advanced one stepwhereas each time a ball is discharged, it will be moved back one stepso that the machine will keep on operating as long as coins aresupplied. Moreover, the coins may be inserted at any time while themachine is operating so that it is not necessary to wait till themachine has stopped or completed a cycle of operation before depositinganother coin. Furthermore, the positions of the high points on the cammembers 94 and 100 are arranged so that stopping of the motor afterfinal operation of cam member 1% will serve to position cam member 94 inreadiness for renewed operation of the machine as soon as brushes 1-8and 20 have attained the desired speed.

In any event, whether using coin controlled means or other controlelements for initiating and terminating operation of the machine, thecycle of operation will be the same.

Although the invention has been shown and described with particularreference to coin controlled constructions and to equipment which cleansand polishes bowling balls, it will be apparent that the machine may beused for simply cleaning or simply polishing balls and may be controlledby any suitable elements. In view thereof,

it should be understood that the particular embodiment of the inventionchosen for purposes of illustration in the drawings and described aboveis intended to be representative and is not intended to limit the scopeof the invention.

I claim:

1. A machine for cleaning and polishing bowling balls comprisinginclined supply tracks for directing balls into the machine, inclineddischarge tracks for directing balls away from the machine, a cleaningbrush located adjacent the lower end of the supply tracks, a polishingbrush located adjacent the upper end of the discharge tracks, saidcleaning and polishing brushes being rotatable about a common axis,means for rotating said brushes, rotatable means positioned adjacentsaid brushes and cooperating therewith to support the balls while theyare being cleaned and polished, mean engagable with the balls fororienting the balls relative to said brushes while they are beingcleaned and polished, means controlling the movement of a ball from saidsupply tracks to said cleaning brush, means for transferring a ball fromthe cleaning brush in a direction parallel to said common axis of thebrushes to the polishing brush, and means for moving a ball from saidpolishing brush to said discharge tracks.

2. A machine for cleaning and polishing bowling balls comprisinginclined supply tracks for directing balls into the machine, inclineddischarge tracks for directing balls away from the machine, a cleaningbrush located adjacent the lower end of the supply tracks, a polishingbrush located adjacent the upper end of the discharge tracks, means forrotating said brushes, rotatable means positioned adjacent said brushesand cooperating therewith to support the balls while they are beingcleaned and polished, means for limiting the speed of rotation of saidrotatable means, means engageable with the balls for orienting the ballsrelative to said brushes while they are being cleaned and polished, balladvancing means for effecting the movement of a ball from said supplytracks to a position in which it will engage said cleaning brush and fortransferring a ball from the cleaning brush to a position in which itwill engage the polishing brush and for moving a ball from saidpolishing brush to said discharge tracks, and timing mechanismcontrolling said ball advancing means to advance bowling balls step bystep and one after another in spaced relation through said machine fromsaid supply tracks to said discharge tracks.

3. A machine for cleaning and polishing bowling balls comprisinginclined supply tracks for directing balls into the'machine, inclineddischarge tracks for directing balls away from the machine, a cleaningbrush located adjacent and below the lower end of said supply tracks, apolishing brush located adjacent the upper end of said discharge tracks,control means movable to permit a ball to move by gravity from the lowerend of the supply tracks into a position in engagement with the cleaningbrush, means for transferring a ball from the cleaning brush to aposition in engagement with said polishing brush, and means for moving aball from the polishing brush to the upper end of said discharge tracks,and mechanism for simultaneously actuating all of said means to advancea plurality of bowling balls through said machine one after another andin spaced relation from said supply tracks to said discharge tracks.

4. In a machine for cleaning and polishing bowling balls, a cleaningbrush, a polishing brush, a supply track directing balls to the cleaningbrush, means for moving a ball from said cleaning brush to saidpolishing brush, a discharge track directing balls away from thepolishing brush, a plurality of control elements positioned to preventundesired movement of balls from the supply track to the cleaning brush,from the cleaning brush to the polishing brush and from the polishingbrush to the discharge track, said control element serving to hold thebowling balls in spaced relation with respect to each other, and meanscontrolling movement of said control elements.

5. In a machine for cleaning and polishing bowling balls, a cleaningbrush of a generally conical form, a

polishing brush of a generally conical form, said brushes being arrangedin substantially axial alignment with the smaller ends thereof adjacent,means for rotating said brushes about the axes thereof, and means formoving a ball parallel to said axes from the cleaning brush to thepolishing brush.

6. In a machine for cleaning a bowling ball, a brush of generallyconical form, means for supporting a ball to be cleaned in engagementwith the conical side of said brush, means for rotating the brush aboutits axis, and means for periodically moving said ball toward the largerend of the brush whereby the ball will be oriented with respect to thebrush.

7. A machine for cleaning and polishing bowling balls comprising a trackalong which balls are movable into position to be cleaned, a cleaningbrush of generally conical form positioned adjacent the end of saidtrack, means for movin one ball at a time from said track intoengagement with the conical surface of said brush, means for rotatingsaid brush about the axis thereof, means for moving a ball engaging saidbrush toward and away from the larger end of the brush to orient theball during brushing, polishing means for balls, means for moving a ballfrom the cleaning brush past the smaller end thereof to said polishingmeans, a discharge track and means for moving a ball from the polishingmeans to said discharge track.

8. In a machine for cleaning bowling balls, a supply track along whichballs are movable into the machine, rotatable cleaning means in themachine, a motor for rotating said cleaning means, a discharge trackalong which balls are movable from the machine, control means operableto admit one ball at a time to the machine from the supply track and todischarge one ball at a time from the machine to said discharge track,electrical means including a rotatable element movable in one directionto initiate operation of said motor and cleaning means, cam actuatedmeans driven by said motor and operable after the motor and cleaningmeans have attained a desired speed for rendering said control meansoperable, and means responsive to discharge of a ball from the machinefor moving said rotatable element in the opposite direction to terminateoperation of the motor.

9. A machine for cleaning and polishing bowling balls comprising aninclined supply track along which balls are movable into the machine, aninclined discharge track along which balls are movable out of themachine, a cleaning brush located adjacent and below the lower end ofthe supply track, control means movable to permit one ball at a time topass from said supply track to said cleaning brush, a polishing brushlocated adjacent the upper end of said discharge track, transfer meanslocated beneath a ball engaging said cleaning brush and movable upwardto transfer a ball from the cleaning brush to the polishing brush,discharge means located beneath a ball engaging the polishing brush andmovable upward to transfer a ball from said polishing brush to saiddischarge track, and mechanism for simultaneously actuating said controlmeans, said transfer means and said discharge means to advance ballsthrough said machine one at a time and from one position to another.

10. A machine for cleaning and polishing bowling balls comprising aninclined supply track along which balls are movable into the machine, aninclined discharge track along which balls are movable out of themachine, a cleaning brush located adjacent the lower end of the supplytrack, control means movable to permit one ball at a time to pass fromsaid supply track to said cleaning brush, a polishing brush locatedadjacent the upper end of said discharge track, transfer means locatedadjacent a ball engaging said cleaning brush and movable to transfer aball from the cleaning brush to the polishing brush, discharge meanslocated adjacent a ball engaging the 9 polishing brush and movable totransfer a ball from said polishing brush to said discharge track, andmechanism for simultaneously actuating said control means, said transfermeans and said discharge mean to advance balls through said machine oneat a time and from one 5 position to another.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,876,851 Burg Sept. 13, 1932 10 1t) Passow Dec. 31, 1940 Creely Oct.31, 1950 Freitas Oct. 23, 1951 Hayes et a1 Dec. 2, 1952 Mieux Feb. 7,1956 Young Dec. 3, 1957 Ernst Apr. 22, 1958 Schnider et a1. Apr. 7, 1959

5. IN A MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND POLISHING BOWLING BALLS, A CLEANINGBRUSH OF A GENERALLY CONICAL FORM, A POLISHING BRUSH OF A GENERALLYCONICAL FORM, SAID BRUSHES BEING ARRANGED IN SUBSTANTIALLY AXIALALIGNMENT WITH THE SMALLER ENDS THEREOF ADJACENT, MEANS FOR ROTATINGSAID BRUSHES ABOUT THE AXES THEREOF, AND MEANS FOR MOVING A BALLPARALLEL TO SAID AXES FROM THE CLEANING BRUSH TO THE POLISHING BRUSH.